Chapter 426: Like a Person

The Mid-Autumn Festival of the sixth year of the Chongzhen reign saw the Marshal Manor's family banquet unusually lively.

In past years during Mid-Autumn, their family never even held a banquet — even the evening meal was eaten very simply, because either the ancestors and brothers were absent, or even if they were present, they would hurriedly finish eating and leave to be with the army.

Only this year did Liu Chengzong intend to spend Mid-Autumn completely and properly at home, so Lady Cai was overjoyed, and began arranging the banquet half a month before the festival.

Ever since they entered Xining, the two sons had been busy fighting wars, but festivals and holidays were always absolute major events for the entire family.

Whenever it was a time that called for family reunion, Liu Chengzong could be absent, but Liu Laoye had to write the invitations, and Lady Cai had to busy herself with arrangements, each time inviting a great crowd of people.

Yang Dingrui's wife and children, Cao Yao's wife, as well as Fan Sanlang, Bai Liuxi, Yun Jiaoyue, and the family of in-law Wang Kun — plus household grooms, guards, and hired help — were all family, so not just during festivals and holidays, even ordinary meals were basically eaten together.

Liu Laoye mainly wrote invitations to the families of generals leading troops, such as Luo Rucai's uncle Luo Daien's family, Basang's wife Meiduo, or those relatively close like Liu Jiusi, Li Wanqing, Shi Chengwo, He Xin, Li Bei, and also people like Xie Erhu whose intent to integrate was very obvious — all were on the invitation list.

Of course, those not invited could also come; many were not invited only because they had clansmen — like Liu Guoneng, with a whole large family — so Liu Laoye refrained from meddling.

And this year's situation was different from previous years.

This was the first time the Marshal Manor was neither fighting during Mid-Autumn, nor preparing to fight right after Mid-Autumn, nor worried about being attacked during Mid-Autumn — so the close generals were many.

It was also the first time that several Mongol nobles who would need to be relied upon in the future, such as Batur Hongtaiji, Shatu Hongtaiji, and the recuperating Guoshi Khan, were all residing in the new city, not to mention the eight ladies of the Chahar.

In Liu Laoye's heart, these eight ladies were something of a mental affliction.

Although the three brothers had all settled on marrying Mongol women, and Liu Xiangyu also knew this was a necessary step to stabilize the Mongol situation, he still felt somewhat uncomfortable inside.

It had little to do with them being second marriages, and little to do with bloodlines — but bloodlines plus second marriages had become Liu Xiangyu's mental affliction.

In his dreams at night, he would always dream of Liu Chengzong's grandfather, at the old burial ground already relocated from Black Dragon Mountain, where for some reason there was a temple, and he was always punished by being made to kneel facing the corner inside the temple, saying that from now on his descendants would all be half-breeds.

But mental affliction was mental affliction, dreams were dreams — this worry Liu Xiangyu told no one.

Lady Cai said, why even write invitations for those eight — just call them to the house a few days early to prepare, and have them help entertain the guests.

"No," Liu Xiangyu said. "Even if they are to be married, they haven't yet crossed the threshold — when they come, they are guests. How can we have guests help entertain? What sort of hospitality is that?"

"Then Sanlang, Liuniang, and Yunniang haven't crossed the threshold either — why don't you write invitations for the three of them?"

"Those are daughters-in-law, aren't—"

After blurting it out, Liu Xiangyu blinked, realizing his meticulous reasoning had been caught in a loophole by his wife, and could only laugh dryly: "I thought of the three of them as having already crossed the threshold."

Regardless, this year all the soldiers and civilians throughout Hehuang were indeed brimming with joy; although reports from various places had only reached Liu Xiangyu, everyone had their guesses about the bumper harvest.

Such a fine occasion deserved a celebratory banquet.

And then Liu Xiangyu discovered that when he oversaw the construction of this Marshal Manor office, his considerations had still been lacking.

It was not that his vision was narrow — during his years as a prison warden, Liu Xiangyu had been the county magistrate of Mizhi; many things, even if he hadn't enjoyed them, he had seen them, and the truly extravagant, even if he hadn't seen them, he had heard of them.

But his son had risen up with a starving army, and was not following the path of roving bandits who live it up once and then perish, so from the very beginning, he had been very restrained regarding luxury and ostentation.

Their family was very generous toward generals, the army, and students — especially toward family dependents like Lady Yang and Lady Cao, whose husbands were away; every change of season, the Xining Prefecture would deliver new jewelry, rouge, and garments of the finest fabric to their homes.

But when it came to themselves, it was a different matter; to this day, the family did not wear silk, and if one excluded military uniforms, armor, and Liu Xiangyu's official robes, the most luxurious garment in the entire family was Chengyun's satin robe, worn only a few times.

Overseeing the construction of this new city and the Marshal Manor was Liu Xiangyu's most extravagant undertaking, and even so, although its architectural ornamentation matched a prince's mansion, the interior was in fact still a large-scale government office — and a military government office at that.

Over seventy rooms — eighteen were for the guard unit alone, and another six were the six offices, each three bays wide like a county office; the layout was exactly identical to an enlarged county office, with the first and second entrance halls both used for handling administrative affairs, and only the rear hall being the residential courtyard — the actual living space was not as exaggerated as a prince's mansion.

This meant that in its design, the Marshal Manor had only two side halls capable of seating twenty for dining, with absolutely no consideration for a banquet hall that could set more than eight tables.

But on the night of Mid-Autumn, setting tables in the courtyard in the evening would be a bit chilly, so it was finally decided to first move all the furnishings from the second-entrance main hall into the storehouse and map room, thus smoothly setting ten tables, and also preparing six tables in the first-entrance front hall, in case subordinate generals and officials visited and had no place to sit.

Regarding this, Liu Xiangyu exclaimed what a pity; he felt that a grand residential project like overseeing the construction of the Marshal Manor was something one might encounter only a few times in a lifetime, and perhaps now that he had gained experience, there would be little opportunity to build again in the future.

After all, Liu Laoye was very clear about the Marshal Manor's current strategic objective: if within two years they advanced troops eastward to seize Longxi, Xining's geographical position and transportation conditions would be unsuitable for governing the entire territory.

Lanzhou was a more suitable location for the center of power, and that place had the Prince of Su's mansion; even if they advanced further in the future and fought into Guanzhong, then Xi'an would naturally become the new center, and there too was the Prince of Qin's mansion.

Before completely pacifying the realm, they would likely never again have the capital for large-scale construction as they did during the Marshal Manor period.

Therefore, this need for a banquet hall was, for Liu Xiangyu, basically an increase in experience of little use.

By the evening of Mid-Autumn, when all the guests had arrived and people were seated, Liu Chengzong, rarely dressed in informal attire, appeared in the central hall, clasped his fists in greeting to everyone, and then smilingly took his seat at the head.

Seeing him sit, everyone knew he was about to say something and all looked up expectantly; he smiled and said to the crowd: "Brothers, uncles, sisters, and sisters-in-law — some of you abandoned home and livelihood three years ago to follow me on the journey west, and some joined us after we reached Xining. It has been three years now!"

"Three years ago, I said I would lead everyone to carve out a path to survival."

Liu the Lion took a deep breath, raised his head, and said: "Before Mid-Autumn, the twenty township wards of the five garrisons in Hehuang, and the seventy-three thousand mu of military colony fields west of Xining, all reported their land yields."

"In the Huangshui River Valley east of Xining, sixty-five thousand mu of grain fields belonging to one hundred thousand commoners produced a grain yield of seven hundred twenty-six thousand seven hundred eight shi!"

As soon as Liu the Lion's words fell, the roof of the Marshal Manor office was nearly lifted by the sound; the generals attending the banquet, especially those who had followed from northern Shaanxi, all whispered among themselves, clapped, and cheered.

This grain yield was not considered high for the Huangshui River Valley, but Liu Chengzong wore an expression of complete satisfaction.

He paused briefly, then continued: "The seventy-three thousand mu of military colony fields west of Xining also produced forty-seven thousand shi of grain; before next spring's plowing, the Yaoshui River Valley will open up another seventy thousand mu of irrigated land. We have firmly established ourselves in Xining!"

Amidst the universal rejoicing, Liu Chengzong accepted toasts from his subordinate generals and their families, the entire Marshal Manor immersed in an atmosphere of jubilation.

Among these, this year's grain yield in the Huangshui River Valley most delighted Liu Chengzong because it increased his confidence in the policy of equal land distribution.

Especially in the twenty township wards of the five garrisons in the Huangshui River Valley — because the landlords, fearing his plunder, had packed up their belongings and fled on their own initiative before the great Hehuang battle, the area underwent complete equal land distribution, with per capita land of six to nine mu.

Their per-mu yield was actually not high; the land was parceled out piece by piece, specifically distributed per capita by household — in places with barren land, each person got two or three mu more, and in fertile places, each person got one or two mu less — and in practice, nearly every household had roughly this income.

Only over seven hundred people were exceptions — they were Hehuang soldiers and officers in the seven field battalions of the Marshal Manor; as long as they had parents or wives in their place of origin, the township likewise counted these soldiers as able-bodied adults, entitling them to an extra four to nine mu of land.

There were over four thousand Hehuang soldiers in the Marshal Manor's seven field battalions, but because most soldiers had surrendered after the land in the townships had already been distributed, later adjustments were made, and over seven hundred of them still had household registrations in Hehuang.

The remaining over one thousand households with family members locally were all relocated from the Huangshui River Valley to Ju'erwan, where there was newly reclaimed land from the Marshal Manor available for allocation; the Marshal Manor provided a subsidy of two taels in Lion Notes per person for house construction, and all were resettled.

However, corresponding to the policy of soldiers claiming household heads and land locally, these soldiers would simultaneously lose the Marshal Manor's extra monthly grain that encouraged family formation.

Even so, settling down and receiving land locally brought in more income than the extra monthly grain.

The extra monthly grain itself was different from the soldiers' grain ration — the soldiers' grain was fixed, but the extra monthly grain for encouraging family formation was not.

Initially, it was based on the soldier's rank of merit, with the lowest being only fifteen jin of highland barley flour per month, but besides military merit, it also varied depending on the garrison location — for example, the Nanshan Fort garrison was harsh and godforsaken, so they got more, basically all issued at one hundred jin of highland barley flour.

In some places where obtaining other foods was easy, they would substitute with other things — those near mountains got tea, those in the north and west of Qinghai got salt, and some places gave tobacco and butter.

These were all benefits only for the veterans from northern Shaanxi; later, when they separated into field and pastoral units and began issuing military pay, the extra monthly grain could, according to the soldiers' wishes, be converted into Lion Notes, silver taels, or highland barley.

But overall, it was not as much as what settling down and receiving land provided.

This meant that for the one hundred thousand commoners in the Huangshui River Valley, the per capita raw grain was nearly one thousand two hundred jin, which after processing became over eight hundred jin of finished grain... this was a very high level of grain possession.

For Liu Chengzong, this per-capita grain holding of over eight hundred jin meant more in terms of achievement than any victory won by defeating the enemy head-on in battle.

Because if land holdings and grain holdings are not measured per capita, then in an agrarian society, per-capita figures are essentially meaningless.

For example, take the same per-capita holding of over a thousand jin of unprocessed grain — replace the self-cultivating farmers after equal-field distribution with one landlord family and twenty tenant families. The total is the same, but the standard of living is completely different.

Setting aside taxes and levies, just a rough calculation: with rent at half the harvest, the landlord family of four takes over forty thousand jin, and the eighty people across the tenant families take over forty thousand jin. That works out to about five hundred jin of unprocessed grain per person in the tenant families.

After processing, that leaves less than three hundred jin of finished grain.

Of course, with over three hundred jin… surviving is certainly not a problem.

After all, families generally have children and the elderly, whose appetites are not that large. A family might be a bit strapped for trade and daily necessities, but it can't be called truly terrible — at worst, they simply lack the capacity to weather unexpected risks.

But this is in a bumper harvest year.

This is also why a tenant must have an ox. He needs to rent more land, work more. With an average of seven or eight mu per mouth and twenty or thirty mu per household, it is very hard for a tenant to secure a stable long-term livelihood. He must rent at least forty or fifty mu before he can speak of anything resembling a long-term life.

In a place like the Huangshui River Valley, if a tenant could rent one hundred mu and his household had few able-bodied men, then in a bumper harvest year, that tenant could eat meat whenever he wanted, drink whenever he wanted. His family would have new clothes to wear for the New Year, and meat dumplings to eat… he might even be able to cultivate a son of a good family.

A son of a good family who could study letters to sit the civil exams, or train in martial arts to join the ranks.

Take Wang Jinzhong's old father, for example. His family was originally entitled to seven mu of land, but because he had a son serving as a soldier for the Grand Marshal, the family received fourteen mu. During the busy farming season, people from the village would also come to help.

Of course, the help was not free. Not every household in the village had an ox. Generally, depending on the number of people per household, one official ox was shared among ten or five households, allocated first to military families and broken households that lacked labor. They jointly bore the grain to feed the ox and used it for plowing. The trade-off was that when someone in a broken household or military family fell ill, grew old, or died, the other households had to help.

If an official ox fell ill, it had to be reported to the village the same day; the village had a veterinarian. If it died, the village head had to report it to the Five Garrisons that same day via the express relay post. The Five Garrisons would take the ox carcass away to determine the cause of death. A natural death was no concern of the locality; other deaths required compensation of one to five taels depending on the circumstances.

Old Wang, with his fourteen mu of land, lived a life at home equivalent to that of a two-person household renting one hundred mu.

What kind of life was that? One man sitting on two thousand jin of unprocessed grain — he absolutely could not eat it all. He didn't even need to prepare winter clothes. In fact, if he didn't have to worry about finding a match and a wife for his son, Old Wang could eat a jin of mutton every day that year.

But in Hehuang, where land is scarce and people are many, for every one household that can rent one hundred mu, it means ten households have not a single mu; for every thousand households that can rent it, ten thousand households have not a single mu.

The Huangshui River Valley, excluding the mountainous areas, has only twenty-three thousand households.

Equal-field distribution can give every person a decent life in normal years, and also the ability to withstand risk in the occasional disaster year.

When the banquet ended amidst laughter and cheerful voices and the guests had been seen off, Chengyun noticed Liu Chengzong and Liu Xiangyu sitting in the hall. Father and son both wore grave and worried expressions. He could not help but ask, "Second Uncle, Brother, what's the matter?"

"Equal-field distribution."

Liu Chengzong lifted his drunken eyes. "Can equal-field distribution be extended to other places?"

"Very hard." Chengyun had not drunk much. He shook his head with a smile. "Not to mention places far away — Hehuang is more than just the valley. The mountainous areas north and south of the valley hold four hundred thousand native people and three million mu of mountain fields. They can't be equalized… In the various areas of Longxi, labor is even more scarce."

Chengyun pointed upward as he spoke. "We have clerks for twenty village offices. They can set up garrisons, sure, but that's enough for three or four counties at most. In the end, we don't have enough people rooted in each village. Equal-field distribution cannot use local minor officials. If we use them, we won't even know how many mu of land a single county actually has."

"For the whole of Longxi, how many people would it take?"

Chengyun was stumped by the question. He swallowed and glanced at Liu Xiangyu, but saw his second uncle sitting calmly to the side, not saying a word. He had no choice but to answer. "Calculated at forty counties, that's two hundred and eighty village offices, two thousand eight hundred villages…"

He could not go on. A project of such colossal scale would require a work team of nearly twenty thousand people. For veterinarians alone, three thousand would have to be prepared.

But to his surprise, Liu Chengzong was not discouraged. "Lanzhou. Start from Lintao. Use the people of Hehuang to equalize the land of Lanzhou. Recruit the village clerks of Lintao to study, and then equalize the land of Gansu. In eight or ten years, equalize all the land in Longxi."

Liu Chengzong stood up, shook his head, and spread his arms wide. "I want them to walk muddy dirt paths carrying their shoes. I want them to cross rivers on rickety bridges in the mountain wind. I want them to have endless bitter well water to drink and houses with roofs that always leak. And I want every person to have barren land that demands ceaseless toil without rest."

"I want the people of the poorest places to live… like human beings!"

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Good evening!